Brown-throated Martin (Riparia paludicola) [XC300668]
by Cedric Mroczko from Lake Ziway, Ethiopia (call)
Brown-throated Martin (Riparia paludicola) [XC300669]
by Jacob Lotz from Lake Ziway, Ethiopia (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Congo Sand Martin (Riparia congica), Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) and Pale Sand Martin (Riparia diluta). Subspecies tantilla sometimes included in chinensis. Name paludibula has priority over minor, but former has not been in use since at least 1894, and latter thus retained by virtually all recent authors.
The following 9 subspecies are recognised:
mauritanica (Meade-Waldo, 1901) - Western Morocco.
minor (Cabanis, 1850) - Locally from Senegambia east to Sudan and northern Ethiopia.
schoensis Reichenow, 1920 - Ethiopian Highlands.
newtoni Bannerman, 1937 - South-eastern Nigeria and adjacent western Cameroon.
ducis Reichenow, 1908 - Eastern DRCongo, Uganda and western and central Kenya south to Burundi and northern and central Tanzania.
paludicola (Vieillot, 1817) - Western and south-western Angola, Zambia, southern Tanzania and Malawi south to South Africa.
cowani (Sharpe, 1882) - Eastern Madagascar. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Madagascar Plain Martin (Riparia cowani).
chinensis (J. E. Gray, 1830) - Southern Tadjikistan, northern Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India east to Myanmar, southern China (southern Yunnan) and Indochina, also Taiwan. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Asian Plain Martin (Riparia chinensis).
tantilla Riley, 1935 - Northern Philippines (Luzon). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Asian Plain Martin (Riparia chinensis).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet